The Way Back Home
by SkyGem
Summary: Sawada Tsunayoshi is the prince of the small nation of Vongola, surrounded by the sea on all sides except for the small, mile long border it shares with Italy. The Vongola Empire is a country set aside from the rest of the world by the fact that its citizens are made up completely of merfolk; a beautiful race of humans with pure...Full summary inside. No pairings.


Summary: Sawada Tsunayoshi is the prince of the small nation of Vongola, surrounded by the sea on all sides except for the small, mile long border it shares with Italy. The Vongola Empire is a country set aside from the rest of the world by the fact that its citizens are made up completely of merfolk; a beautiful race of humans with pure white hair that only takes on its true colour when doused in salt water. Banished from their kingdoms under the sea by an unknown force, the merfolk have lost nearly everything that made them different from the humans. But when the young prince is visited on the night of his sixteenth birthday by his ghostly ancestor, it seems as if his peoples' long years of banishment has finally come to an end. No pairings.

SkyGem: Hey guys! Long time no see! Anyways, this is going to be a rather short fic, about three chapters hopefully, max five. So, I hope you enjoy, and I just wanted to say that the part about the white hair is borrowed from the manga Kaizoku to Ningyo.

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Kaizoku to Ningyo.

* * *

_Sawada Tsunayoshi smiled contentedly up at the sky, the sun warm on his closed eyelids and the sound of the waves a comforting backdrop, a lullaby he'd heard all his life. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten here, but he wasn't about to question it. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and not a person visible on the long stretch of beach he currently occupied._

_The sand was warm against his bare back and wet and clinging to his calves due to the waves lapping gently at his feet._

_Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tsuna knew that this moment was far too quiet, too perfect, knew that this was probably a dream, but the rest of him didn't really care as long as he could lie here in contentment forever._

_He didn't get to enjoy the peace for very long though, because suddenly, a shadow fell over him, blocking out the sunlight._

_The young prince opened his eyes, aware of the slight irritation that was probably making itself known on his face. Tsuna had already opened his mouth to complain before he noticed the bucket of water that a certain someone was about to dump over him, and didn't react fast enough to stop himself getting a mouthful of the salty seawater._

_Jerking up and coughing violently to get the water out of his lungs, Tsuna pushed suddenly silky brown hair out of his eyes before looking up at the person standing in front of him, his mouth already open to berate him._

_The person in front of him was just a few years older than Tsuna, drenched blond hair pushed back from his forehead as he smiled impishly down at his victim. Dressed in nothing but a pair of ratty brown shorts, it took a moment for Tsuna's shocked mind to recognize his great-great-great-grandfather Giotto Vongola._

_Grabbing Tsuna's hand and pulling the teen excitedly to his feet, Giotto said excitedly, "Come on, Tsunayoshi! We have to get going! We don't have much time left!"_

"_Going where?" asked Tsuna, allowing himself to be pulled forward into the sea. Just like any other child raised in the Vongola Empire, Tsuna had grown up swimming in the salty waters of mother-sea, and he didn't need any excuses to go diving into her welcoming embrace; it filled a longing in him, a hole he didn't usually notice in his every day life. The merfolk as a whole had a deep infatuation with and an unerring respect for the sea, and a deep, almost primal need to get back to it – back to her._

"_Home!" was the fiercely joyful reply. "It's time to go home!"_

_Tsuna stared in shock for a moment, unable to move as Giotto dove under the waves, before following his ancestor down under the water, farther and farther away from the land he'd known all his life and towards the home he'd always yearned for._

* * *

With a coughing gasp, Tsuna rose out of the waters of sleep, opening his eyes to find himself back in his bedroom at the palace. The comforting oranges and browns of his surroundings which usually felt so welcoming now made Tsuna feel slightly claustrophobic, and more than a little disappointed.

Lying there for a few moments after he'd awoken, Tsuna took the time to carefully file away the dream, making sure to remember every last detail he could, and when he couldn't get away with lying in his bed any longer, the brunet through his comforter back and got up, sinking his feet into the soft carpet under his bed.

All throughout his morning rituals of showering and brushing his teeth and throwing on some decent clothing, Tsuna couldn't get his thoughts off the dream he'd had. In fact, the young prince was so preoccupied with his thoughts that when he was greeted with a resounding "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"! the moment he opened the doors to the dining room, he very nearly had a heart attack.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Tsuna brought himself back to the present, and couldn't help the smile that came to his face when he saw all his loved ones there. Even his grandpa Timoteo, the current monarch of the Vongola, had found the time to come.

Bounding out of his seat, seven-year-old Lambo threw his arms around Tsuna in a quick hug before grabbing his hand and guiding him to the his seat at the head of the table opposite Timoteo and his guardians.

Birthday breakfasts were considered a family time, whether it was Tsuna's or one of his guardians' or Timoteo's or even Xanxus's, and were always eaten together, as were the other meals of the day, no matter how busy everyone was.

The chefs had really outdone themselves with the food, despite the fact that it was only breakfast, and Tsuna knew they would probably be busy cooking for the rest of the day, every meal more extravagant than the one before.

This year, Tsuna's normal birthday tradition of lazing around with his guardians, doing nothing as opposed to his usual jammed schedule learning to take care of his kingdom would, unfortunately, have to be cancelled.

Even at this very moment, the streets of the Vongola empire would start flooding with people, stalls being put up in anticipation of the day of partying.

Sixteenth birthdays had always been a big deal with the merfolk; once upon a time, it had been the day on which one would come into their full power.

For as long back in history as accounts of merfolk went, there were stories of hapless sailors enticed into jumping overboard, pursuing the hypnotizing tunes of a mermaid's song.

What humans didn't know was that that was only a fraction of their power.

The voices of the merfolk were the very source of their magic; of course, these days, not many people believed in magic anymore, with science becoming more and more advanced. And, of course the fact that the last sighting of a mermaid's true form had been centuries ago didn't help that belief in their kind and their power was starting to dwindle, and not even the presence of the Vongola was enough to change that.

But believe it or not, the merfolk had songs for everything. Songs for forging metals, songs for preparing their food, songs for making clothes and jewelry, and songs simply for expressing their feelings.

But in an age in which they'd all lost their tails, had no need for gills, and in which their once beautiful voices had lost their magic, the celebration of the sixteenth birthday was a comforting tradition, a taste of home in a foreign land, a connection to their past when all else had been lost.

Breakfast was a loud affair, as it always was, with everyone throwing insults at each other and catching up with people they hadn't seen in days.

But the moment Tsuna pushed his chair away from the table to get up, an immediate hush fell over the group and everyone immediately stopped eating.

Looking around once more to make sure that everyone had finished eating, Tsuna smiled and thanked the chefs before turning and heading up to his room to start getting ready for later that day, when he would have to address everyone who had travelled from all over the country just for the day's celebrations.

Upon feeling a small hand slip into his own, Tsuna looked down to see Lambo looking up at him with worried eyes.

"Are you feeling nervous?" he asked the child.

Sniffing disdainfully, Lambo looked away, but didn't let go of Tsuna's hand. "Of course the great Lambo-sama isn't nervous! Is Dame-Tsuna nervous?"

"A little," admitted the brunet, and Lambo looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Anyone would be nervous," said Hayato with an eye roll.

"Even Kyoya-nii?" asked Lambo, raising an unimpressed eyebrow but at the same time seeming just a little relieved.

"Of course!" agreed Takeshi with a laugh before ducking quickly out of the way of a tonfa sent flying his way by everyone's favourite skylark.

"Kufufu, it's not like you're saying anything anyways," said Mukuro with a small laugh.

"Hai!" agreed Chrome in a chirpy voice. "All you have to do is stand in your place by onii-san and look pretty!"

"Everything will be EXTREMELY alright!" agreed Ryohei with his usual bright smile, and even Tsuna found himself relaxing at the sound of his guardians' usual banter, though his part would be significantly harder than his guardians', seeing as he was the one that would be giving the speech.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Tsuna looked around and saw Hayato smiling softly at him.

"You'll be amazing, Juudaime," he said, and Tsuna couldn't help but return the smile.

By now, they had arrived upstairs, and the eight of them split to head to their own rooms to try and make themselves look presentable.

* * *

Hours later, it was finally time for Tsuna to go out and face his people.

For the past few hours, the young prince had been practising the speech he was going to give, all while trying to hold still enough for his personal assistants to get him ready for his speech as they made some last minute adjustments to his attire.

Looking at himself once more in the mirror to make sure that he still looked impeccable, Tsuna was stopped short.

For the quickest of seconds, it had looked as if orange eyes had been staring back at him in place of his normal brown ones. Then he blinked, and they were brown once more.

Thinking that it had been a trick of the light, or his mind could possibly still be stuck on the strange dream he'd had the night before, Tsuna took a few deep breaths to get himself focused on the task at hand, then turned and stepped out of his room.

Right outside of his bedroom, his guardians had already gathered, and the moment Tsuna stepped out, they all stopped their bickering and stood at attention.

A small smile tugging at his lips, Tsuna let his eyes rove over them all once, taking a moment to fix Lambo's tie and smooth down Ryohei's hair a bit before turning and leading them all out onto the balcony from which he would address his future subjects.

Stopping just inside the doors to the balcony, Tsuna took one deep breath to steady himself, took one last look at his guardians, then stepped out.

The moment Tsuna laid eyes on all the people below, though, the young prince felt his breathing hitch, his vision black out, and a familiar voice say, _"Time to get the show on the road, Tsunayoshi-kun."_


End file.
